Welcome to Xenforo 2.2!
Welcome to the newest version of Xenforo! This update's been a long time coming, but I hope you'll find the new features in this version to be worth the wait. You can read more about those below, but before we get there, I'd like to give a big shout-out to the staff team for their help in test-driving the new version, especially @Dragonfree for her help with the security certificates and @windskull for her help testing the app and push notifications (and for one of the screenshots below).
I've already given it away a little bit, so without further ado, let's get to the good stuff...
ThousandRds App and Push Notifications
Thousand Roads now offers the convenience of an app as well as access through a web browser! When browsing on a compatible mobile device, an easy install button should appear at the bottom of the main navigation menu, as in this screenshot:
If you aren't seeing that option, don't despair! (Unless you're on iOS. The app is not availabe for iOS.) There are a number of other ways to install the app depending on your device and browser, and initial testing suggests that people often don't see the "install" option on the menu for mysterious reasons but are able to download and use the app anyway. Firefox (mobile or desktop) displays an icon in the URL bar if the app can be installed:
Click the house icon with a "+" will allow you to download and install the app.
On Chrome, tap the three dots at the top right of the screen, then choose "Add to Home Screen."
(With thanks to the random blog site I snagged that from)
If you're not on iOS, and the options above don't work for you, feel free to post with your browser and operating system, and I'll see if I can figure out how to get it to work for you.
Whether or not you use the app, you can also enable push notifications to receive real-time alerts when someone posts in your fic thread, replies to your RP post, or takes any other action you've chosen to receive alerts for! (Note that if you've installed the app, you will still need to enable push notifications separately if you'd like to receive them.)
If you're browsing on a compatible device, you should be greeted by a banner at the bottom of your screen asking you to enable push notifications, similar to this one:
Whether you can see the banner or not, you can always modify your push notification settings by clicking your username or avatar on the forums' top menu and selecting "Preferences." This page allows you to enable or disable push notifications entirely and offers fine-grained control over what you receive alerts for, and whether you receive them only on the forum or as a push notification as well.
Please note that the above features are not available on iOS.
New Board Style
With a new software version comes a new dark mode style! "Dreamshade" is a purple theme featuring artwork by @Phoenixsong, previewed below. Give it a try by selecting "Change Style" from the primary navigation menu or clicking the paintbrush icon in the bottom left of your screen!
Username Changes
If you're getting tired of your username, it's now possible to change it as easily as any other setting. Click on your username or avatar on the forums' top menu and select "Account Details." Click the "Change" button next to your username, enter the new name you'd like, hit "Save," and you're done!
You can change your username once every six months.
New BBCodes
The majority of these aren't actually new, but they were added quietly, and many people may not know they exist! And one of them's actually new. ;) I hope you'll find some of these handy for enhancing your fics, games, and general posts around the forums!
Hovertext
The [hovertext] tag allows you to add a small message that will appear over a phrase, image, or smiley when a user hovers or clicks on it. Use it to add footnotes, definitions for phrases in other languages, authorial asides, or whatever you'd like to the text of your post!
Code:
[hovertext="This is my hidden message!"]Hover over me for a surprise![/hovertext]Hover over me for a surprise!
Or try it with an image:
Code:
[hovertext="Quag!"]:quag:[/hovertext]
Note that [hovertext] only supports plain text, i.e. if you include BBCode tags, images, etc. in your message, it won't render properly. Thanks to @Cresselia92 for her help getting this feature implemented.
ReSpace
If you have problems with your paragraphs having
too
many
spaces,
or your lines are getting
crammed up together
without a break,
you can use the [respace] tag to force your paragraph breaks into a the standard format with one blank line between without having to go back and edit them by hand:
Code:
[respace]
these paragraphs
will get
spaced out
correctly
[/respace]these paragraphs
will get
spaced out
correctly
Horizontal Rule
If you're tired of typing out lines of symbols to mark the breaks between your scenes, you can use the [hr] to create a horizontal line in your post. Great for all your breaking-up-text-walls needs!
Code:
[hr][/hr]Float
The [float] BBCode tag allows you to "float" images either to the left or the right side of your post and have text flow around them, creating the effect of a magazine or newspaper article. This is the tag that was used to create the formatting in last year's writing contest results post!
Code:
[float=left][img]https://forums2.thousandroads.net/data/avatars/s/0/1.jpg?1609526943[/img][/float]Instead of the image appearing above the text, these lines will wrap around it!
Random
You can supply the [random] tag with any number of options, separated by "|||", and it will choose one to display at random. A common use for this is to allow you to include multiple story banners/quotes/whatever in your signature without having to take up a lot of space--with the random tag you can show just one at a time, even if you have a lot to display. Perhaps you'll find a use for it in a forum game, or even in one of your stories!
Code:
[random][img]https://thousandroads.net/static/icons/sobble.png[/img] ||| [img]https://thousandroads.net/static/icons/scorbunny.png[/img] ||| [img]https://thousandroads.net/static/icons/grookey.png[/img][/random]
Try refreshing the page to see this one in action! Many thanks to @Dragonfree for sharing this feature that she created for her own forum!
Custom Profile Banners
You can now customize the banner that appears at the top of your user profile with any image you like! To upload a custom profile banner, simply visit your user profile and click the button labelled "Edit profile banner" in the upper right.
You will be prompted to upload an image and, depending on its size, select what part of it will be the focal point. From that point on, your profile will display this image instead of the generic colored bar.
Your profile banner will also be visible when someone hovers over or clicks on your name by one of your posts:
Multiple Partner Pokémon
That's right, at long last you can claim multiple pokémon companions to accompany your posts across the forums! All companions from the previous board installation had to be manually re-entered on this one, so if yours is missing, please let me know as soon as possible so I can add them back. Also, for those people who should have multiple companions, it's inevitable that I missed some of you who already told me who your second or third partners should be. If that's you, please remind me so I can add them. And if you're eligible for a second+ (or even first!) companion and haven't gotten me your choice yet, please let me know who you'd like in the next week so I can wrap up work on this batch of companions.
And More!
This board upgrade contains a number of additional tweaks, enhancements, and even some additional major features I haven't mentioned here! I haven't thought of a good use for search forums, vote threads, or a number of other options added in this version of Xenforo. Feel free to read more about everything that was added here, and if you have an idea of how we could use one of those features here, just let me know! There's a lot of power in this update that I haven't put to work yet.
That's all from me! I hope you enjoy the upgraded forms, and if you encounter any problems with the new version, feel free to post about it in this thread or in the Help and Suggestions forum.
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